


I didn't say it back (you don't have to)

by obrienslahey



Category: The Maze Runner (Movies), The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: M/M, newtmas - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-23 23:16:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17693015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/obrienslahey/pseuds/obrienslahey
Summary: Newt admits his feelings for Thomas which makes him incredibly happy for the rest of the day. At least, until he realizes he never told Newt he feels the same way.or; Thomas being a dumbass ft Newt being a softie





	I didn't say it back (you don't have to)

**a/n this is short and bad sorry**

"You  _ what? _ "

Thomas stared at the boy in front of him while trying to remain cool. (He wasn't. At all. In fact, his heart was beating out of his chest and he was shaking. Not that Newt would ever notice - hopefully.)

Newt took a deep breath and looked up at him. 

"You heard me. I like you."

"Wh - wha- when? Why?"

Thomas felt his face redden and tried to control his breathing. 

_ What? _

He blinked nervously, swallowed and rubbed his fingers over his temples. 

"Okay, let me get this straight -"

Newt snorted. 

"Don't say it," Thomas said, half-laughing. Newt smiled and bit his lip, probably to stop himself from saying he's not straight. 

"Ehm - you -" Thomas said, trying to pull himself together. Doing so had never been this hard. He tried to blame it on the fact that Newt took him off guard, but really, it was because he was really fucking happy that Newt liked him. 

It had been just a normal morning. Minho had woken him up at dawn and they got ready to run again, after which they would return with no information - as usual. Thomas hadn't been feeling very well that morning, so Minho had told him they could wait for another hour, and that's when Newt had approached him. 

Newt usually watched the runners leave the Glade in the morning, so Thomas hadn't been surprised to see him. It didn't change the fact that he felt butterflies as soon as the blond appeared, though. In fact, it felt like his feelings for him only got stronger. 

 

_ "Hey, Newt," Thomas said. Minho greeted him as well, and then walked away. Thomas figured he was going to get some more food from Frypan and sat down on a small bench near the Deadheads.  _

_ "Hey, Tommy," Newt said. Thomas patted on the bench and Newt sat down next to him. "How are you feeling?" _

_ "Pretty good," Thomas said. "I'm a little tired, though. Couldn't sleep last night." _

_ Newt shuffled a little closer. "Why not?" _

_ Thomas shrugged. "I don't know. Just overthinking, I guess. How are you?" _

_ Newt avoided his gaze. "Good. I actually have to tell you something." _

_ Thomas's heartbeat sped up, both from nervousness and worry. "What is it?" _

_ Newt looked back at him and smiled a little. "It's nothing bad, don't worry."  _

_ He sat up straight and stared at his hands, barely hiding the fact that he didn't dare to look at Thomas.  _

_ "It's pretty stupid, actually," Newt continued. "I didn't really think it was necessary to tell you, but Minho has been pressuring me to do it." _

_ Something clicked in Thomas's mind and he looked over his shoulder, not seeing Minho near Frypan or his food at all.  _

_ "So that's why he walked away," he said.  _

_ "Yeah." Newt sighed.  _

_ "I just want to get it over with, so you can go into the Maze with Minho and run." _

_ Thomas turned back towards him and frowned. "I won't if it means this much to you." _

_ Newt nervously laughed. "You have to run." _

_ Thomas shrugged. "I can skip a day." _

_ Newt stared at him for a little while and then averted his gaze again.  _

_ "I don't know if you know this, but I'm gay," he started. _

_ Thomas nodded. "Yeah, I knew that." _

_ Newt glanced at him and then continued studying his hands. Thomas got more and more worried every second. It really seemed like something was wrong.  _

_ "It's okay, you can tell me," Thomas said. Newt nodded. "Yeah, I know."  _

_ He remained quiet for a while until something seemed to change in his mind and he looked up, seemingly more confident than before. Thomas could still see that he was nervous, though.  _

_ "I like you. And not just as a friend."  _

 

Thomas coughed a little and looked back at Newt. 

"Wow, I did not expect that."

Newt smiled softly. "I hope it doesn't ruin our friendship."

"No! No, no no, that's not what I meant," Thomas quickly said. "I just - didn't think you'd like me. I didn't mean to friendzone you."

"Why wouldn't I like you?" Newt said. "You're attractive, brave, funny - although Minho tells you you're not. What's not to like?"

"I just -"

"You coming or what?"

Thomas's head snapped to the side and he saw a couple of other runners staring at him. At the same time, Minho approached them, a grin on his face. 

"Although I'd love to watch you two lovebirds make fools of yourselves all day, we should really get to running, Thomas," he said. 

"Oh, right," Thomas said, looking back at Newt. The blond was avoiding his gaze - once again. "We were actually -"

"You should go, Tommy," Newt interrupted. 

"What?"

Newt smiled at him softly. "Just go. We'll talk later."

Thomas hesitated, hearing the sad tone in his voice. 

“Are you sure?” he asked, but he already knew the answer. Newt wanted him to go. 

“Okay,” Thomas said, not waiting to hear him say it out loud. “We’ll talk later.”

Newt nodded and Thomas stood up, following Minho to the Doors. 

When he looked back at him, Newt was still sitting on the bench with his knees up and his arms wrapped around them. His head was resting on his knees and Thomas almost ran back to him, but then the Doors opened and he woke up from his daydream. Minho started running and Thomas turned around to follow him, looking at Newt one more time before they made the first turn. 

They ran for hours, mostly without saying anything. One of the first things Minho had taught him was that speaking wasn’t necessary and it’d only be a waste of breath. Thomas had excellent stamina, but he didn’t want to take the risk. He preferred silence anyway, especially after this morning. It gave him some time to think things over. 

After a couple hours, Minho stopped running and told him this is where they’d take a break. It was in a pretty open space, where they could easily spot Grievers if they approached them, and it had many ways to get out of. Minho usually chose these places to rest, because that was simply safer.

“So, you and Newt, huh?” Minho asked while opening his backpack and taking out a sandwich. Thomas blushed. “Slim it, Minho.”

“Just saying,” Minho laughed. “You two look cute together.”

“We’re not -”

“Together?” Minho frowned. “This morning, it looked like you were.” 

Thomas sat down and began taking sips from his water bottle. “I guess. But we’re not.” 

Minho sat down next to him. “Why not?” 

Thomas shrugged.

Minho hummed in response, but didn’t say anything. 

After a couple of minutes, he stood up and told Thomas to do the same. 

“Let’s keep running. And Thomas - you should really just say ‘fuck it’ and make a move.”

Thomas nodded, but didn’t know how to respond to that. Minho didn’t seem like he expected an answer, though, because he turned around and ran away again.

Still feeling a little shocked from what happened this morning, Thomas followed.

It was just before their second break when realisation hit him. He’d been thinking about Newt again, and his face when he told him he liked him, and -

_ Shit. He hadn’t said it back. _

Thomas tripped on air and almost fell. Luckily, Minho had started to run next to him, and he caught him before he could faceplant.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Thomas mumbled, regaining his breath. He rubbed his face to wake himself up, but a sad feeling was now weighing down on him like a millstone. God, he was such an idiot. 

“Keep running,” Thomas said. “I’m okay.” 

Minho gave him a look that meant he didn’t believe Thomas, but he sped up again. 

Thomas took a few seconds to slap himself in the face for being so stupid before he took off as well.

 

The rest of the day, Thomas never lost the feeling of loss. Of course, he could make up for it later, but he’d disappointed Newt already, something he absolutely hated to do. He could only imagine how terrible Newt must feel. Thomas had just left him, without saying anything, after Newt had just confessed his love for him.

Okay - love was a strong word, but Thomas liked to think that that was what Newt actually felt. 

As the day went by, Thomas only felt worse, and he’d never been so relieved to see the Glade again that afternoon. 

Of course, Minho had noticed that something was wrong. He probably figured out what it was as they ran, and that’s why he said “Go get your loverboy.” when they entered the Glade. 

Thomas smiled at him and immediately started looking for him. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find him anywhere. He first went to the Blood House, then to the Homestead, and he ended up in the Deadheads. Newt was nowhere to be found. 

Swearing at himself one more time for being so stupid, Thomas went to the Gardens to ask Zart if he’d seen him. 

“Newt? No, he took a day off,” Zart said. “He’s probably in his hammock.” 

Thomas nodded. “Thanks.” 

Of course, he’d already looked there. Which meant that Newt was officially missing. 

Not really missing, of course. It’s not like they could go anywhere. But it definitely felt like he was.

With the worst mood he’d ever had, Thomas went to dinner and then showered. Minho and Chuck talked to him during dinner, but both seemed to notice that he wasn’t in the mood to talk. After a while, they let him alone, leaving Thomas staring at his food like he wanted to kill it. 

When he still hadn’t found Newt after he’d showered, he decided to just go to sleep and talk to him tomorrow. He felt kind of betrayed because Newt had told him that they would talk later, and now he was avoiding him.

He was heading to the Deadheads, his favourite place to sleep, when he suddenly noticed blond hair in the corner of his eyes. He turned his head around so fast he was pretty sure he got whiplash. 

 

It was Newt, sitting against the log just like the first day Thomas was in the Glade. Thomas smiled a little. Of course.

He walked over to him and climbed over the log. Newt didn’t move. 

“Hey,” he said. “I’ve been looking for you all day.”

Newt turned his head and stared at him with a blank expression. Thomas couldn’t help but notice that his eyes were slightly red and guilt washed over him like a flood of water. 

“Why?” Newt asked. His voice cracked as he asked it, and the sadness that radiated off of him almost made Thomas’s eyes water. 

“I’m sorry for just leaving this morning,” Thomas said. “I didn’t realize how stupid I was this morning until like, two o’clock.”

Newt huffed. “That’s not unlikely for you.” 

Thomas laughed. “I guess not.” 

It got quiet again. It wasn’t really awkward, it was more the type of silence there is when neither of you knows how to say what you want to say. Thomas  _ hated  _ that.

“Listen, Newt,” he started, but he couldn’t continue when Newt looked at him again. The boy looked so sad, yet so hopeful, that Thomas just couldn’t get the words over his lips.

“Oh, fuck it,” he whispered and he moved in and pressed their lips together. 

Newt made a surprised but cute noise, and it took him a while to react when Thomas kissed him. He’d moved back a little because of the force Thomas used when he kissed him, and now he pushed Thomas back instead. 

Somewhere in the back of Thomas’s mind, he registered wolf-whistles from someone - probably Minho - and Chuck’s voice saying “Finally.” but he didn’t react to it. The only thing on his mind was Newt, Newt, Newt. Newt’s lips, Newt’s hair, Newt’s hands all over him -

He pulled back from the kiss and opened his eyes, meeting Newt’s gaze as he did so. 

“I like you too, Newt,” he whispered. Newt smirked. “I noticed.” 

Thomas smiled and bit back a laugh as he looked at the blond sitting in his lap -

_ Wait, what?  _

“How did you end up here?”

Newt blushed and fiddled with the collar of Thomas’s shirt. “I don’t know.” 

Thomas grinned and folded his hands behind Newt’s neck, pulling him closer.

“How about we continue this conversation somewhere more private,” he whispered in Newt’s ear. 

He felt Newt shiver and smirked as the blond glanced over Thomas’s shoulder, where Thomas knew at least ten people were watching them. 

“Yeah, let’s go,” Newt said and he stood up, holding out his hand for Thomas. Thomas took it and tried to ignore the warm feeling he got as they held hands. 

“Deadheads?”

“Sure.” 


End file.
